The statue of former Governor in Texas Confederate General Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross stands at the intersection of 5 walkways behind Lawrence Hall on the campus of Sul Ross State University in Alpine. Lawrence Hall is the first building you see if you come into the main entrance off of US 90. Veer right in front of Lawrence Hall and park in the parking lot to your left. The statue is nearby.
The statue is made of bronze by sculptor Paul Tadlock. It stands on an octagonal base of polished Texas red granite at the intersection of five campus walkways.
Sul Ross is dressed in formal period clothing from the late 19th century, looking lie the University President he was in life. His suit with an open suit coat, buttoned-up vest, pants, belt, tie, and boots was probably what he wore daily to work. is right arm is bent 90-degrees at the elbow, and grasps his coat. At his side with a straight arm, In his left hand he carries a leather-bound book, his arm is mostly straight, with a slight natural bend at the elbow.
He is neatly groomed, with a short pointed beard-and-moustache of the period, and smoothly combed hair. He appears to be about 60 years old, a dignified and accomplished man. He looks straight ahead, as if he has been caught walking across campus to his office.
It looks to Blasters like the statue is a little larger than life size.
Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross is a legendary Texan, although he was born in Iowa. He was a Texas Ranger, Confederate General, a Comanche fighter, Governor of Texas, and president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas.
In 1860, Ross was a Texas Ranger fighting against with the Comanche Indians in Texas. During a raid on 18 Dec 1860, he killed Comanche chief Peta Nocona in hand-to-hand combat and "rescued" Cynthia Ann Parker, a white child who had been captured in 1836 and assimilated into the tribe.
Cynthia Ann Parker had married Chief Peta Nocona and had three children with him. She was returned to white society in 1860, but never assimilated, and tried many times to flee back to her Comanche family. Peta Nocona and Cynthia's son, Quanah Parker, who survived the raid, would be the last chief of the Comanches.
Read more about Peta Nocona here: (
visit link)
about Cynthia Ann Parker here: (
visit link)
and about Quanah Parker here: (
visit link)
At the start of the Civil War, Sul Ross enlisted as a privatein the Confederate Army, but eventually attained the rank of Brigadier General. He was the commander of the Texas Sixth Cavalry at the Battle of Corinth in Mississippi, which saw some of the fiercest fighting in the war.
Mama Blaster's third great grandfather Amasa Pratt Tourgee Perkins and his brothers Thomas S. Perkins and Leander F. Perkins were members of Company D of the 9th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) at the Battle of Corinth. They fought there and for the remainder of the war, under the command of General Ross.
After the Civil War, Sul Ross returned to Texas and entered politics in McLennan County TX. He was elected McLennan County Sheriff, then State Senator (1880) and finally Governor (1887). After his term as Governor ended in 1891, he served as President of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now known as Texas A&M University.) He served there until he died in 1898.
Twenty years after his death, the State Legislature chartered a new State Normal School (a Teacher's college) at Alpine, which they named after former Governor Sul Ross.
As far as Mama Blaster knows, Sul Ross is the only University President in Texas to have statues in his honor on two separate University campuses: A bronze statue of Sul Ross stands in front of the Academic Building at the Texas A&M campus, where he is part of the beloved campus tradition (https://www.tamu.edu/traditions/aggie-culture/pennies-on-sully/) and this waymarked statue, on the campus of Sul Ross State University in Alpine.
The plaque on the boulder next to the statue of Sul Ross reads as follows:
LAWRENCE SULLIVAN "SUL" ROSS
1838-1898
Born in Iowa on September 27, 1838, Lawrence Sullivan Ross came with his family to the frontier of the Republic of Texas in 1839. In his teens and early twenties, he was involved in frontier defense. Recognizing the importance of education, Ross attended Baylor University and received an A.B. degree from the Wesleyan University in Florence, Alabama, in 1859. From October 1859 to February 1860 Sul Ross was a Captain in the Mounted Texas Rangers and took part in the Pease River campaign. He served in the 6th Texas Cavalry during the Civil War, ending the war as a Brigadier General and commander of the Texas Cavalry Brigade. After the war Sul Ross raised cattle and farmed for several years, was elected Sheriff of McLennan County (1873-1875), was a member of the 1876 Texas Constitutional Convention and served as a state senator (1881-1883). In 1886 he was elected Governor of Texas and, during his two terms, he championed public education and oversaw the construction of the new capitol building. In 1891 he became president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas and under his leadership that troubled institution flourished and gained respect throughout the state. When he died on January 3, 1898, Texans mourned and extolled him for his courage, his dedication to the state and his public spirit. The Dallas Morning News on January 4, 1898, wrote: "It has been the lot of few men to be of such great service to Texas as Sul Ross. . . he has. . . discharged every duty imposed upon him with diligence, ability, honesty, and patriotism." In 1917 the Texas Legislature named a newly created Normal School in Alpine, Texas, in his honor — Sul Ross Normal College which became Sul Ross State University in 1969."